Southern Illinois Fat Tire Fest
Southern Illinois Fat Tire Festival (FTF) is celebrating 22 years of one of the best MTB events in the entire MidWest! This year’s event goes down October 16-18, 2026, in Ozark, Illinois right in the middle of the beautiful Shawnee National Forest. Camp Ondessonk will serve as our hosts with awesome treehouses, great camping and amazing food! There are miles and miles of great riding for all levels from mellow flow to rugged all mountain boulder strewn rowdiness. Join us for one of the Midwest’s best all-inclusive mountain bike weekends with tons of fun riding; both professionally guided and self-led, amazing food and drink, and tons of outdoor adventures all weekend long!
FTF has something for everyone, from those wanting to ride every minute of the day to those tagging along to enjoy some time in the great outdoors. The list of fun evolves each year and is part of what makes Fat Tire Fest such a fun event for EVERYONE. This year the list includes 30+ miles of onsite trails to explore at any time, including the 10+ miles of fun and flowy trails handcrafted specifically for MTB riding that weave thru the 800+ acres of CampO property.
At Fat Tire Fest there’s always a ton of riding and a bunch of “other fun” too.
- The Fat Tire Challenge will be back on Friday night with the “huffy toss”, the “big kids on little bikes” races, the now famous “log pull”, the CampO tug of war and other FTF Challenge tomfoolery.
- Saturday afternoon includes the first “big race” of the weekend with the “Kids Race” at the expo area, featuring kid sized jumps, and three different distances so that even the youngest can get in on this one!
- The Off-Road Crit race happens on a super fun and rowdy course, with just under 30 minutes of racing. This one has the best prizing of the entire event….bragging rights for the whole weekend.
- “The Hunt” scavenger challenge goes on all weekend long. This one is HARD with riddles and clues all over the forest. A great way to explore the outdoors and have fun beyond the rides.
- A Tunnel Hill Rail Trail ride happens Saturday mid-morning, light gravel, tons of trestles, an awesome tunnel and an out and back course so you can make it as short or long as you like.
- Guided family MTB rides happen both Friday and Saturday, getting the littles out in the dirt.
- On-site bike demo’s from Santa Cruz and Cannondale all day Friday and Saturday and a number of other brands on site with cool gear to check out.
- Fat Tire wouldn’t be Fat Tire without great food, cold drinks (sponsored by New Belgium and Excel), treehouse accommodations and tons of amazing prizes, last year was well over $10,000.
- We cap the weekend off right with the O-Face Challenge, an all-in race on Sunday, with options for all to compete and have fun, whether you are a rider or not!
Join us for the 22nd Fat Tire Fest and have more fun, more adventure and embrace the outdoors while enjoying your best weekend of the year. For more in-depth event information just keep reading.